KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Despite conceding a goal for the first time this season, the Thunderbirds (11-0) continued their winning ways with a 2-1 road victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (5-1-3).
The matchup pitted the two remaining undefeated teams in the Canada West Pacific Division against each other, with the WolfPack having allowed just two goals in their first eight games and coming off a big win over the nationally-ranked Trinity Western Spartans.
The T-Birds knew they needed to come out of the gates strong, facing a quality opponent in adverse weather conditions, and they did just that with a goal from a corner kick in the 12th minute.
Taiya Dennehy was on set piece duty, and lofted a ball to the back post which was met by the head of Sophia Ferreira. The veteran defender nodded the ball down and it bounced off the ground and into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the campaign.
Maddy Norman doubled the advantage with another header just before the half hour mark, this one coming from open play and off a delightful cross from the boot of Sienna Gibson. After using her quick feet to create just enough space to whip the ball into the box, Gibson's cross found the onrushing Norman who powered it past Floor Ursem in the TRU goal.
But while the Thunderbirds seemed to be well on the way, they were pegged back before halftime by a great strike from WolfPack midfielder Allison Hill. The first-year player found herself with room to shoot from the edge of the box following a nice through-ball from Macyn Jolly, and fired it into the top corner to break UBC's 25-game Canada West regular season shutout streak.
Despite that setback, the T-Birds were able to see out the rest of the match, and limited the WolfPack to just two shot attempts in the second half, neither of which forced a save from
Marilena Spagnolo in goal.
The Thunderbirds now have a day off following the big win, although the weekend is far from over. Following their Friday night sojourn in Kamloops, the blue and gold will be back on the coast for a rivalry matchup in Victoria on Sunday afternoon, their final road game of the regular season.
